Existing systems for managing payrolls of this type typically require the preparation of rosters, and the entering by employees (whether by time clock or time sheet, etc) of the time actually worked. The time actually worked will commonly not correspond exactly to the rostered hours, owing to employee illness, late attendance, overtime, early departure, etc.
Details of the accumulated time worked—as recorded on a time sheet or otherwise—is passed to and authorised by a supervisor, and then sent to payroll administration for processing. The times and accumulated hours actually worked are compared with the roster so that habitual diligence or tardiness, absences due to sickness etc, or any other significant issue can be monitored, recorded and appropriate action—if any—taken.
Payroll administration posts all wage amounts to specific accounts in the general ledger and accrual accounts for future payments. Statutory reports and EFT (electronic funds transfer) submissions are undertaken and the appropriate sums forwarded to the relevant authority or financial institution. Payroll administration must also prepare pay slips, which are distributed to each employee with—if EFT is not used—pay attached.
Periodically, statements of yearly earnings and income tax deductions, etc (referred to in some jurisdictions as “Group Certificates”) may be prepared and distributed.
A flow chart for an example of such a prior art system is shown at 100 in FIG. 1, from the step 102 of recruiting employees through steps 104 to 110, to the ultimate step 122 of the issuing of Group Certificates.
Such prior art systems, however, require a large quantity of data entry, including into the initial roster, into time sheets, and into the payroll administration system.